Basket-cover



(Model.)

J. H. MARVIL.

BASKET COVER. No. 350,377. v y Patented Oct.'5,'l886.

N. PETERS. Phuwumgmpher. waihingwn. 07C.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OEErcE- JosHnA n'. MAnviL, oE LAUREL, DELAWARE.

BASKET--COVERi SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 350,377Idated October 5, 18.86.

Application filed August 19,1886. Serial No. 211,322. (Model.) I

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JosHUA H. MARVIL, a

lcitizen of the United States, residing at Laurel,

cover which is simple in construction and easily and cheaply made, andis capable of being firmly retained in position upon the basket, thecover, when placed upon the basket and held by fastening devices,assuming such `a. shape that one basket will set steadily upon the otherwithout rocking when they are set up in tiers, either filled with fruitor empty.

Another object of the invention is' to permit the covers, when not inuse upon baskets, to be nested in such a manner as to Ioccupy verylittle space, thus lessening the cost of freight or transportation andobtaining other advantages incidental to such nesting.

`With the ends above stated in view my invention consists in theconstruction of the cover, which will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, and then set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a central section of myimproved cover, together with a portion ofthe body of the basket. Fig. 2is a perspective top view of the cover. Fig. 3 is a'perspective bottomview showing the manner of nesting the covers when not in use.

The referencenu meral l designates a basket, which may be of any desiredconstruction, shape, and material, and has the customary top rim, 2, forsupporting the cover. The latter consists of the two slats, 3 4, whichmay be termed, respectively, the lower and npperslats, and are crossedat right angles, or about so, and secured together at the point ofcrossing, so as to form what maybe termed a cross shaped body havingarms or branches of equal length. To the under sides of the extremitiesof the four branches or arms thus formed are secured blocks 4, which areof uniform thickness and serve to raise the cover the proper distanceabove the basket by resting upon the'top rim of the latter. Theblocks 4extend at right angles to the slats and may project slightly beyond theedges thereof. They are secured in place by nails or other fasteningdevices, and wires or other fiexible metal strips, 5, passed through thetwo blocks on the upper slat, 4, and clinched on the top of said slat,also serve as additional means for securing said blocks in place. Oneach side of the upper slat, 4, and running parallel therewith, arearranged two shorter slats, 7 8, having their ends eutoff obliquely atabout an angle of forty-five degrees, more or less. These slats withobliquely-cut ends are secured to the lower slat, 3, by nails or othermeans of fastening, and when all the.7o

parts are in position, as shown, a cover of an octagonal shape isformed, the slats bearing the blocks constituting four sides, and theshorter slats with oblique ends the other four sides.

When the cover is required'for use, it is placed upon the basket-rim insuch a way that the blocks 4; will raise the cover to such a height aswill allow the contents to be heaped and remain exposed to view. Thewires 5, which hold the cover in place, are inserted between the twohoops constituting the upper basketrim, and then they are bent shortkaround the outer hoop of such rim upon. the outside thereof, as isclearly seen in Fig. 1. It should be observed that when bending thewires the blocks of the upper slat bearing such wires are pressed downupon the basket-rim,

and said upper slat, by pressure on the lower slat, 3, as hereinafterstated, will cause the blocks 4 on the latter to press upon the rimofthe basket. It will be apparent that by fastening the upper slat tothe lower one in the manner shown and providing its blocks with theretaining-wires, said slat is curved somewhat when the wires are locked,thereby forming a spring and causing the unwired blocks upon the lowerslat to be pressed firmly upon the rim of the basket. By such means thecover is rmly retained in the position into which it is placed until thewires attached to the upper slat are loosened, in order to permit thecover to be removed from the basket. When the covers are thus removed,

a series of them can be nested into each other and firmly retained insuch nested or concen tric position without the use of fastening devicesto tie them together. In other words, the different covers are held byfriction against one another, and their capability of being thus nestedand retained is due to the obliquely-ent short slats of one cover lyingagainst the inner sides of the blocks ol another cover, as is clearlyseen in Fig.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, is-

1. A cover for fruit-baskets,consisting of the lowe'l.` and upper slats,3 and 4:, crossing each other and centrally joined together, a block, 4,attached to each end of said slats,

